Canada Guy

Islamic Burial Muslims are urged to bury their dead quickly and it has become traditional to bury the deceased within 24 hours. 1. The corpse is washed (bathed) to physically cleanse the corpse 2. The corpse is wrapped in a simple plain cloth. The main factor in this step is to respectfully wrap the corpse in a cloth so that its private parts are not visible to others 3. The Muslims of the community gather to offer their collective prayers for the forgiveness of the dead. 4. Only men are allowed to attend the actual graveside service. The grave itself should be aligned on a northeast to southwest axis, facing Mecca. The wrapped body is placed directly into the ground, without any kind of casket. *Taken from a variety of sources (including my own interpretation of what I have found researching islamic practices)

I really enjoy "German War Machine". The title sort of puts you off but the articles and production values are very good. http://www.germanwarmachine.com/ It does not come out regularly but the indepth survey of the German MG42 was good as was the article on the "Ghost" division.

I only play on Elite as I also only play CMx1 in Full FOW. This may skew my answers. Improved 3 - Improved graphics (though I do hate the washed out look) it does have great potential 3 - Much improved editor (including more building heights) 2 - No Borg Spotting 1 - Editable waypoints 1 - Improved Arty Degraded -3 - Lack of info. This may seem silly and it may be that I know my CMx1 better but I am having a hard time knowing what is happening to my units. How many have been put out of action? If there are 2 men left, how many did I start with? I do not want to hunt around for little red circles. This also includes hit information on vehicles and end of game unit accomplishments. -2 - I do not like the 1:1 representation. I like to deal with my units in squads and this complicates matters if they are strung out all over the board. Where are they really located? I have no idea as the info bar does not tell me in what terrain they are located (see above) -1 - No On board arty -1 - Point picks for QBs -0.5 - The music. I hate that guitar riff when the scenario is loading and it gets on my nerves very quickly. I liked the classical music much better. I do not know what I hate it so much, it is just annoying. As you can see the positive for me still outweigh the negatives. I think by the WWII version (or whatever is next) this should be a solid, fun game just as the mechanics of CMBB were more solid than in CMBO (and again improved in CMAK). Getting more info to the player (within the confines of no-borg spotting) would make this an immensely more enjoyable game. I am hoping this will all come in time when Charles codes it in. Hope springs eternal as I am still hoping for a Korean War game.

It is not as easy to patch/build these products as most people seem to think. Considering that they are probably 1/10 the size of a development team on any EA game, I think they have done a terrific job. Give it time to mature and it will become the product that we want it to be. There are few games out there with a more loyal following (as well as well-read and intelligent). I started a list of the things that I would like to se added, got up to point 8 and have found 2-3 more things that I liked about CMx1 that I would like to see incorperated. In 2 years we will all be laughing at these posts just as some people laughed about there old posts to CMBO. Perhaps we could start a thread (or non-postable area) where we could submit our wants/needs and they could keep us abreast of what is up with each request. We do this with our own software through a product called "Bugzilla".

Der Alte Fritz, I live in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Whenever you are in town, I will take you up on that coffee (Tim Horton's preferably). I thought I was just being slow and this fix had been implemented months ago. I was surprised that so many of us had not known about it and that BF has not been more vocal (though they may have been and I just missed those posts).

Bring back flags. It was so much easier to know that you had completed the assignments.

I think I wil be playing CMBB/CMAK more as they finally fixed the missing fog for ATI video cards. I updated the the latest drivers (7.10) and the fog appeared. All those scenarios where my opponents talked about the fog will have to be replayed as this makes the game even more attractive. That does not mean that I will play CMSF less, just that I have new reason for CMBB/CMAK play. I am surprised that my wife does not complain more.

I just updated from driver ATI 6.5 to 7.10 and noticed that I now have fog in the game. When was this fixed? I never heard a peep on the boards here (though I do not check the CMBB board all that often) but this used to be the big bugaboo for all ATI graphics cards. Whatever happened, I am impressed and want to try "Royal Opponent" once again as the graphics look even more improved. Whoever fixed this, good for you. It has improved the game immensely.

I think I found my answer in the CMAK discussion forum. Thanks Redwolf. From his post the victory levels are Total Defeat (0-18.5%) Major Defeat (18.5-29.5%) Tactical Defeat (29.5%-36.5%) Minor Defeat (36.5-44.5%) Draw (44.5-54.5%) Minor (54.5-63.5%) Tactical (63.5%-70.5%) Major (70.5%-82.5%) Total (82.5%+) If I am wrong, please correct me. [ October 20, 2007, 04:16 PM: Message edited by: Canada Guy ]

Does anyone have the actual percentages for the differing levels of victory. I was under the assumption that minor and tactical levels were the same but cannot find a reference that says that x to y percentage is equivilent to a particular victory level. Thanks

I still heavily play both CMBB and CMAK on a weekly basis. I have 3 PBEM games going this month alone. Dollar for dollar, I have payed about 5 cents an hour for this pleasure (and that is including the fact that I have bought multiple copies of both CMBB and CMAK). CMx1 is something I will be going back to year after year. If CMx2 lives up to its potential (and has some interesting subject matter) I would also be playing this for years. When are the mods coming? I hate the CMx2 info bar on the bottom and have hopes that someone will mod it to become a useful area of info. More like CMx1. Like coloured backgrounds for the state of the unit (Broken, shaken etc.)

Thanks for the info. If Madmatt was refering to me, I was not asking that all games get up to the same level (as they eventauuly will all be at 1.04) but rather that Paradox/Gamer's Gate could have a patch to bring them in line with the BF version so that we do not have to have multiple types of patches. It would be nice to have 1 patch that will update CMSF no matter who you bought it from. This might not be possible as each might have different security and a patch to bring all games together might negate the security from a particular company. Why they would have different security is another question.

Another question: Will the Paradox version and the BF version ever be reconciled? I am assuming that it is related to disk security but could the paradox version get a one time patch to bring it in line with BF's version? It would be nice for all copies to be on the same page when a patch is released.

People do not need to get a job, they need to get a life. Being between the crass comercialism of the USA and the welfare state of Europe (maybe with the worst of both worlds) I would say both areas have something going for them. I believe in national health care (most people do not choose to be sick) but open markets (if you do not want to be a farmer or do not like the pay in your job - change jobs - take that Common Agriculture policy) Back to topic I do not feel like I have over paid for CMSF. This is a good game and I will get hours of enjoyment out of it as time goes on. I only paid about 5 cents per hour of enjoyment for CMBB/CMAK (and that is having bought 3 copies of each just to give away). I am also sure their was bitching and moaning when CMBO was released. I have paid good money for games that I thought were absolute crap and yet I have never gone on their forums and complained. In 20 years you will not even remember writing your diatribe let alone feel bad about the money you spent.

Would it be possible to add an icon to the info bar to show what terrain the unit is occupying? I liked knowing that my men were in scattered trees or grain. With men 1:1 and not all in the same place, it would be nice to know what the computer classifies them as accupying. I spent a few turns trying to get all my men into rubble as I saw 3 men in open ground. If I know the computer listed them all in the rubble (even though the graphics show a little different) I would have spent more time firing and less time trying to get them all in there. --- BTW If this is in CMSF I have not seen it but I could just be blind.

I would also love the ability to go back and see the whole game (without FOW) and see how my actions (and reactions) played out. It is difficult to remember turn 1 of a 50 turn game in PBEM. Also remember that if it is the footprint of the file that is causing problems, we would have been woried about a 10 meg reply in CMx1 and now that would be a laugh. As long as it would be in the 100-200 meg range I do not see this as being a problem as time goes on. Even now it is only slightly cumbersome.

Steve, Thanks for the info. I think it is relevant to compare CMx1 and CMx2 in this situation. Having never bought/played CMBO, I never realised that certain things I had taken for granted (and thought were very useful) were not included. I also appreciate the fact that you have not dismissed my requests out of hand. There may be a certain logic to your design decisions and it also might be that there are not enough hours in the day to get everything in that everyone keeps harping about (e.g. QB Random maps). Especially for a release 1.0x. I think you guys have done a great job addressing our concerns and the list of 8 that I posted was more of a wishlist and not a "I need them or I will not play" list. (Good news is that my 2 partners in crime that I play CMBB/CMAK PBEM on a regular basis have just picked up CMSF. One is in the Canadian reg forces and will kick my butt once again.) Good luck and can't wait to see some of these 8 appear in the game sometime in the future.

This is a repeat (with additions) of something I said in another thread. There are 8 other things that I would like to see. I thought some might be in a patch but cannot find the thread. 1. Turn all movement orders on for all units at once so we can see where everyone is going. 2. C & C lines to show who is under an HQ. Even though the units highlight when you click the HQ icon, it would be very useful to have a line (black/red) to indicate whether a unit is in/not in contact and what units are under that HQ. 3. LOS indicator - It would be great to see if a unit has LOS to a point. Now I have to wait until a unit is visible and then check. 4. How many men in a unit are OK and how many have been incapacitated. Yes, I can see that 3 men are OK (maybe 1 wounded) but how many men were there in the unit to begin with. I liked the CMx1 icons of 1/7 where 1 unit is still active and 7 are incapacitated. It told me how much of a beating I was taking. Now I have to search the screen for minutes looking for red bases. It is a waste of time. 5. Detailed hit information. Yes I can see the explosion and the fire and the red base but a bit more information on the hit would be useful. 6. The right mouse button actions. I liked the ability to just right click with all actions and then go from there to the board. Hunting and pecking the bottom info bar is not intuitive or not as intuitive as a right mouse click. 7. Status if a unit is pinned or panicked. I am not yet sure which status prevents orders. This may be that I am just not familiar with the game yet but a red button showing that I canot give ordrs would be helpful. 8. Kill tracking by unit which was very useful in post-game analysis. It also was fun to see which unit was the most effective. This would be a start. I have said that this is a good game and a good game engine. Bringing some aspects of CMx1 back does not mean that we do not like this game but that some ideas in User Interface use in CMx1 were inspired design and I do not think you should throw the baby out with the bath water. I just liked some of the ergonomics of CMx1 better so why not combine both?

I agree, kill tracking very useful in post-game analysis. There are 6 other things that I would like to see and I thought I read that some were in a patch but cannot find the thread. 1. Turn all movement orders on for all units at once so we can see where everyone is going. 2. Lines to show who is under an HQ. Even though the units highlight when you click the HQ icon, it would be very useful to have a line (black/red) to indicate whether a unit is in/not in contact and what units are under that HQ. 3. LOS indicator - It would be great to see if a unit has LOS to a point. Now I have to wait until a unit is visible and then check. 4. How many men in a unit are OK and how many have been incapacitated. Yes, I can see that 3 men are OK (maybe 1 wounded) but how many men were there in the unit to begin with. I liked the CMx1 icons of 1/7 where 1 unit is still active and 7 are incapacitated. It told me how much of a beating I was taking. Now I have to search the screen for minutes looking for red bases. It is a waste of time. 5. Detailed hit information. Yes I can see the explosion and the fire and the red base but a bit more information on the hit would be useful. 6. The right mouse button actions. I liked the ability to just right click with all actions and then go from there to the board. Hunting and pecking the bottom info bar is not intuitive or not as intuitive as a right mouse click. This would be a start. This is a good game and it is in version 1.0x so there is room for improvement. Some ideas in User Interface use for CMx1 were the apex of design (some would say brilliantly inspired) and I do not think you should throw the baby out with the bath water. Bringing back a few of these would improve the ability to play the game but would not change the new game itself. The CMx2 game engine is good (and getting better). I like the direction it is going and it is superior to CMx1 from the looks of it. I just liked some of the egonomics of CMx1 better so why not combine both?

The support from Paradox is not to bad. I bought the game through EB Games about 2 weeks ago but it took a direct email to their Customer service desk to get a clear response about release dates. The last upgrade ,(v1.03) I believe, came out the same day as the BF version. So far, no problems.

With the recent surge in the CDN $ to the American $ the price works out to about US$37.84 http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/rates/converter.html It hasn't been since the early 70s that we had such a favourable rate. BTW - the game was worth the wait.

Hooray!! I picked the game up this afternoon from EB Games. Only CDN$39 which I consider fairly cheap for a good game. I am still not playing though which is my own fault. My 8 year old son saw it and now won't let me play. I am also not sure if I ever want to play against him though. After watching him play, the myth of daddy being good at these games will be quickly shattered. I think I will need some old farts like me (30s/40s) to play against. BTW He picked up the icons, commands and camera movements in about 2 minutes. It might take me a month.

I would agree with Steve. SFs might be interesting but the scale would be very small. Not enough to envision an entire module around. As for next game: WWII and then Korea. I do not think that this would add too much equipment above the planned 44-45 NW Europe game and it features the USA (good marketing I guess) and they fight commies (more realistic than Fulda Gap - WWIII) and could include a UN force/Chinese module (Go Turks and Canadians). Terrain Tiles could also be re-used from NW Europe to some extent.

Delayed again!!! I am reviving this thread as once again I was told that the retail version of this game has been delayed. No explanation, no information, just no it is not yet out. I think this is delay #5. Looking at Paradox’s website, there has not been any news for a long time and EB Games has even removed it from their website. Will it even be released in retail in North America? If I know for sure that there would be no retail copy in North America I would be more than willing (despite previous bad experiences) to down load through Battlefront. Can anyone provide info so I can make an informed decision or will we just be treated like Mushrooms (kept in the dark and fed lots of S&%#)? I know that this has nothing to do with BF but they may have some insight.

I know that there were some problems with the run. I am sympathetic to production problems (I am currently implementing a student information system for a large university). The thing that bothers me is the lack of information. I have found that most people give you as much sympathy as you want provided you give them information. Paradox has nothing on their website in the last 12 days that I could find regarding the delay. Even posting here about unexpected problems would make me feel like they cared. Honest information is the best excuse.